Prior Art
There is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,530,428 to Zak an electrical connector having a locking lance for locking two mating electrical terminals 104, 106 within housing halves 100, 102, respectively. However in Zak, the housing halves are not two piece, therefore due to molding limitations the slots 50, 52 can only be one diameter or increasing in diameter as the slot progresses outwardly towards the front faces of the housings. To prevent the terminals from being pulled out, a fixed tab 118, 124 is includeable on each of the terminals, lying outside of the envelope of the terminal body portion which rests on internal tapered seats 144, 156 within the cavities. This type of terminal could not be utilized in an application where the terminal must be inserted through a sealing grommet, as the insertion of the terminal would tear the grommet apertures upon insertion therethrough.
There is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,252,399 a socket contact 1 locked within a two piece housing, although to prevent the terminal from being outwardly through the front face of the housing a crimped bead 16 is includable on the rearward portion of the contact. Therefore, this contact could not be used in an application where sealing is required as the bead 16 would tear or stretch a sealing aperture through which the terminal is being placed. The socket ends 7, 8 could not be utilized to bear against the backside of the forward mounting plate, as the force against the backside surface would be detrimental to the effectiveness of the contacts' resiliency.